Ah, feels good to be back at work. Before I post some new stuff, I decided to do a little cleaning around the store and I decided to make a few tweaks to my FF. They're all going up a PL because they're the FF, dammit!

I'm adjusting some others, too, since I can never leave well enough alone. Probably have a couple of new builds up during the week, but unfortunately we have a family friend that is losing his fight with cancer so I may have to put things to the side a bit to go out of town.

COMPLICATIONS:Enemy: Dr. Doom, Super Skrull, Annihilus, Red Ghost and othersFame: The FF are known the world over and never hid their secret identitiesMonstrous Appearance: His appearance can cause issues for him at timesRelationships: Reed Richards, Johnny (most of the time), Sue and her children, Valeria and Franklin and Alicia Masters, his long time girlfriendRivalry: The Yancy Street Gang, Johnny (most of the time), and he always a piece of The Hulk

Thanks. I've been lurking from work and such, I just haven't had much time to contribute. Until the holiday stuff kicks in full bore, I'll be around more. So much to stat, so little time.

It's been good to see the activity. I feel like MnM is getting lost in the shuffle with GR's other efforts, but the new Freedom City book will hopefully get more people into the mix, or bring back some of the old crew.

HAPPY GUY FAWKES NIGHT loyal customers! As we try to return to form, we're stocking this new item on Aisle 1 to celebrate the day!

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.

The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.

Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V. - V

Build Comments: Happy Guy Fawkes Night everyone! I couldn’t let this one pass without dropping the man who has become a symbol the day for us geeks, the one and only V.

Sadly, I have never read the comic and only seen the movie once a good while ago, so this is mostly Wiki and Wordverse (Wordmaker handled him wonderfully in his setting on the old ATT, if you haven’t read those stories, check them out) fueled.

Secret Origins/The Story so Far: On V’s Earth, the world is in turmoil and warfare, with the United States fractured as a result of prolonged second civil war and a pandemic of the "St. Mary's Virus" ravaging Europe. The United Kingdom is ruled as a fascist police state by the Norsefire Party, helmed by all-powerful High Chancellor Adam Sutler. Political opponents, immigrants, Jews, Muslims, atheists, homosexuals, and other "undesirables" are imprisoned and executed in concentration camps.

On November 4, a vigilante in a Guy Fawkes mask identifying himself as "V" rescues Evey Hammond, an employee of the state-run British Television Network, from members of the "Fingermen" secret police while she is out past curfew. From a rooftop, they watch his demolition of London's main criminal court, the Old Bailey, accompanied by fireworks and the 1812 Overture. Inspector Finch of Scotland Yard is tasked with investigating V's activities while BTN declares the incident an "emergency demolition". V interrupts the broadcast to claim responsibility, encouraging the people of Britain to rise up against their government and meet him on next year's Guy Fawkes Night outside the Houses of Parliament. During the broadcast, the police attempt to capture V. Evey helps him escape, but is knocked unconscious.

V takes Evey to his home, where she is told she must remain for one year. V then kills Lewis Prothero, Norsefire's chief propagandist, and Anthony Lilliman, the Bishop of London. Evey offers to help, and uses the opportunity to escape to the home of her boss, comedian and talk show host Gordon Deitrich. In return for Evey trusting him with her safety, Gordon reveals prohibited materials including subversive paintings, an antique Quran, and homoerotic photographs. Meanwhile, V confronts Dr. Delia Surridge, who had experimented on him and many other "undesirables" 20 years ago at Larkhill concentration camp; seeing her remorse for her past actions, he kills her painlessly.

After Gordon performs a satire of the government on his show, his home is raided and Evey is captured. She is imprisoned and tortured for information about V, with her only solace being a note written by actress Valerie Page, a former prisoner who was tortured and killed for her lesbianism. Evey is told she will be executed unless she reveals V's location. When she says she would rather die, she is inexplicably released and then finds herself in V's home. It turns out that V was the one who had "captured" her at Gordon's home, and staged her imprisonment and torture to free her from her fears. The note was real, passed from Valerie to V when he was imprisoned. He also informs her that Deitrich had been executed when the Quran was found in his home. While Evey initially hates V for what he did to her, she realises she has become a stronger person. She leaves him, promising to return before 5 November.

Reading the deceased Surridge's journal, Finch learns V is the result of human experimentation and has been targeting the people who detained him. Despite being stonewalled by the government, Finch searches for the true identity of V, tracing him to a bioweapons program in Larkhill. Finch meets William Rookwood, who tells him that the program, which was directed by Sutler (who was then Undersecretary of Defence), resulted in the creation of the deadly St. Mary's Virus. He further reveals that Creedy, a leader of the Norsefire Party, released the virus onto English soil, killing 100,000 British residents and framing the outbreak as an attack by a terrorist organisation. The Party, which promised security in times of social instability, used the ensuing wave of fear to elevate Sutler to the newly created office of High Chancellor and win an overwhelming majority in Parliament, becoming the elected government. Finch later discovers the man he met was V in disguise, and though he initially disbelieves the story, his faith in the Norsefire government is severely shaken.

As 5 November nears, V distributes thousands of Guy Fawkes masks, and the population questions Party rule as the nation slowly descends into anarchy. On the eve of 5 November, Evey visits V, who shows her an explosive-laden train in the abandoned London Underground, set to destroy Parliament. He leaves it to Evey to decide whether to use it. V meets Party Leader Creedy, with whom he made a deal to surrender in exchange for Sutler's execution. After Creedy executes Sutler, V reneges on his deal and kills Creedy and his men. Mortally wounded, he returns to Evey and tells her he loves her before dying.

As Evey places V's body aboard the train, she is found by Finch. Disillusioned by the Party's regime, Finch allows Evey to send the train off. On the surface, thousands of unarmed Londoners wearing Guy Fawkes masks march towards Parliament. Since Creedy and Sutler are both dead, the military receives no orders, and allows the crowd to pass. As Parliament is destroyed, Finch asks Evey for V's identity, to which she replies, "He was all of us."

However, rumors persist that V still lives…

Characterization: A charismatic and skilled anarchist terrorist who had been the unwilling subject of experimentation by Norsefire.

Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.

The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.

Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V. - V

Still one of the greatest speeches of all time and one of Hugo Weavings magnum opus performances.

Dr. Silverback has wryly observed that this is like trying to teach lolcats about Shakespeare

I'm sure that it's just a just a rumor BUT... I liked hearing stories of actors getting a little 'odd' in the head when trying to play V. They were having a hard time portraying a character in such heavy costuming. Then again, how many VAs could pull that off with ease?

V is also one of the rare times when a movie adaptation is better than the original. The graphic novel is painfully Moore. The movie was watered down.. but by that, I mean sane.

I'm sure that it's just a just a rumor BUT... I liked hearing stories of actors getting a little 'odd' in the head when trying to play V. They were having a hard time portraying a character in such heavy costuming. Then again, how many VAs could pull that off with ease?

V is also one of the rare times when a movie adaptation is better than the original. The graphic novel is painfully Moore. The movie was watered down.. but by that, I mean sane.

I whole heartedly agree. Granted I saw the movie before reading the comic, but the comic rather difficult to get through.

I'm sure that it's just a just a rumor BUT... I liked hearing stories of actors getting a little 'odd' in the head when trying to play V. They were having a hard time portraying a character in such heavy costuming. Then again, how many VAs could pull that off with ease?

V is also one of the rare times when a movie adaptation is better than the original. The graphic novel is painfully Moore. The movie was watered down.. but by that, I mean sane.

I whole heartedly agree. Granted I saw the movie before reading the comic, but the comic rather difficult to get through.

Same here. I got the book from the library and I made it through about a quarter of it. I generally love Alan Moore, too, but he lost me there.

COMPLICATIONS:Mental Instability: Clayton has only sparse bits of the memory of his former life. That confusion along with the tortures he endured at the Weapon X facility have affected his mental state severely.Obsession: Weapon H is H-Alpha and he is uncontrollably driven to be the Alpha amongst the Weapon X creations.Temper: Believe it or not, he can get a WEEEEEEEEEEE bit angry at times, causing him to do lots of damage.Vulnerable: Because of his Adamantium skeleton he very vulnerable to Magnetic attacks.

Build Comments: So…Marvel had Weapon X make a Wolverine/Hulk hybrid to vex Cho Hulk and the Wolverines. I plan on getting the trade with this arc soon just because. Not that I have great hopes for the story based on the what I’ve read in the Wiki’s so far, and it really feels like a shark jumping moment. But come on, a Wolverine Hulk?!?!?!? The concept seems like it could be fun if handled correctly and I guess Weapon H is getting his own book in March so Marvel apparently is thinking what I am.

Secret Origins: Clayton was one of the last two subjects experimented on by Dr. Alba, the head of Weapon X's Batch-H division, which focused on the creation of Hulk/Wolverine hybrid mutant-killing cyborgs. H-Alpha was different from Weapon X's other subjects in many ways; firstly, he wasn't personally recruited by Director Stryker, so he wasn't a "true believer" of his cause; secondly, Alba left more of his brain than in other subjects, with the intention to better train and discipline him.

The Story so Far: When the Hulk and a group of mutants investigated Weapon X and raided their central command, H-Alpha had fifteen minutes left of incubation before he could be released. The release of H-Beta bought Dr. Alba enough time to finish H-Alpha's process, and she eventually released him.

H-Alpha joined the brawl between H-Beta and Hulk. Due to his programming to act as an apex predator, H-Alpha beheaded H-Beta. He then turned on his creators, which Alba theorized was because H-Alpha had enough of his original brain to resent the atrocities they did to him. Hulk held him back, and they continued fighting. Once the Weapon X staff had fled the scene, H-Alpha abruptly stopped fighting, and escaped by jumping away.